This week a new documentary film aired for the first time that shared the story of Freddie Burretti.
It was his smart eye that ensured David Bowie became a fashion icon as well as a musical one.
And he was a Bletchley lad to boot.
Sammy Jones joined the anticipated screening of Starman at Odeon MK....
They say behind every good man is a good woman. But behind one of the most iconic musicians of all time?
That's where a quirky, unique, flamboyantly creative Bletchley man stood. And he stayed there for five years.
Freddie Burretti asked others to wear his creativity as their sleeves.
And for a while there in the seventies, he was 'seam-ingly' unstoppable.
His clever eye, sharp sense and eagerness to push boundaries, ensured that David Bowie wasn't famous only for eating his way into the ears of a generation.
His finesse with the fabric teased another sense too – proving a feast for our eyes.
And that was Freddie's doing.
Freddie was born in London, but came North (just a touch) as a youngster, uprooted when his family shipped out of the capital and into the decidedly less glamorous Bletchley.
Of the man and his life, "The truth was more remarkable than the myth," says the film's creative force, Scribbo.
But how good can this documentary be? This is a story about one designer.
Down-doers will say he created a few patterned, off-kilter pieces. But they are one Ziggy costume short of wardrobe...
The answer presents itself in a film that gathers together Freddie's family and friends, and teases the man from the memory.
And actually, it doesn't take too long before we all get a bit Freddie-fied.
With its Codebreaking history, Bletchley was a private sort of place anyway, but Freddie had his own secret, and couldn't be himself, or let loose his creative potential in the town.
"Being gay was difficult in the 60's...being gay in Bletchley? Unheard of!"
And so he bowed out of town, a youngster with a bubbling brilliance and a passion for music. He needed somewhere that would allow him to flourish.
He landed back in London and became a regular at the excitingly fashionable El Sombrero club where the sharply dressed Freddie owned the coolest look, and the dance floor.
And it was there that the vital connection was made with Angie and David Bowie.
Freddie's story is told with a sweet supply of warm, heartfelt, and sometime funny memories by associates including his flatmate, Wendy Kirby, and his brother Steve Burrett, and coloured by local faces including former teacher Barrie Field.
By the time they are done sharing, you really feel like you know more than a little bit of the man who had the midas touch.
It makes for a gloriously good watch.
But having styled Bowie and rode the ride to the top during five years of fun, just when he had 'the world of rock at the end of his needle,' in 1976, Freddie walked away.
From Bowie, from the industry, from the life he knew - and everyone he knew in that life.
He skipped out of town, leaving the bright lights behind for a spell in Israel.
Apparently, he went for four weeks of work...and stayed put for 12 years.
A communication breakdown meant not even his family knew where he was, until it was too late to rekindle relations.
Freddie passed away on May 11, 2001 in Paris, but his family only learned the sad truth months later.
Giving a nod to his flair in life, whether intentionally or not, Freddie's grave sits at a slight slant, refusing to conform to the style of the burial spaces around him.
Even at rest, he still stands out.
His legacy? That's easy.
When you look back at the history of music fashion, Bowie and Ziggy still glow the brightest, and putting the twinkle into the cloth, the sparkle into the image, is Freddie.
His place in rock n roll history is assured, as The Man Who Sewed the World, of course.
